You are being set up, GOP. The media is setting you up to depress GOP turnout in 2014. Even though almost everything Obama proposed pertaining to gun control is already dead, NBC News is rapidly rewriting history in order to claim a victory for gun control advocates (and defeat for the GOP and NRA) should any kind of increased background checks become the new law of the land:
But this is the game, folks, and it’s always been the case: Background checks will define success or failure. As we said above, the assault-weapons ban never had a chance for passage[.]
After hundreds of hours of media programming condemning so-called assault weapons, gun shows, and the size of certain magazine clips; after major proclamations from Obama and Democrats about the need to ban, restrict, and outlaw the same — NBC News now apparently wants us to believe it was all a ruse to win only expanded background checks.
That photo of David Gregory above? Forget it ever happened.
Laughably, the media tries to act as though gun control is a matter of principle to them. But then NBC News comes along and exposes the true agenda, which is obviously a purely political one meant to crown gun control advocates the winners no matter how big their losses.
If this is the way the media intends to frame this, Republican lawmakers had better think long and hard about the political consequences of a days-long media Narrative hailing Obama for once again defeating the political right, and the NRA.
And don’t scoff at the media’s ability to craft its own reality. This is the same media that turns a rise in unemployment into a “good economic sign.”
My guess is that the media magically turning a gun control failure into a gun control success has less to do with giving Obama a policy win and more to do with handing him his biggest wish, and that’s a Democratically controlled House of Representatives.
The 2014 mid-terms are fast approaching, and one of the most important lessons of 2012 is that a primary reason Romney lost was due to too many Republicans staying home. If the GOP wants to hold the House, the last thing that will turn out the base is the GOP looking as though they again caved to Obama. NBC News knows this, so the background check-trap has already been baited.
Watch your step, GOP. The ObamaMedia is playing chess, and for keeps.
And shame on NBC News for poisoning this debate with politics. I happen to be a conservative open to the idea of increased background checks, but as the saying goes — liberals ruin everything.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC